Reimbursement and Compensation: Aer Lingus

If you've heard your journey will be affected by Aer Lingus flight cancellations it pays to know about the UK's and the EU's air passenger rights.

In an effort to discourage airlines from cancelling flights at the last minute, Europe introduced a set of clear air passenger rights known as EC 261, and the UK introduced a similar law sometimes known as UK 261, during their exit from the European Union. The sections on flight cancellation say that if an airline like Aer Lingus cancels a flight less than 14 days before it was due to depart, they must pay out up to £520 in compensation to each affected passenger.

Because the laws focus on avoiding disruption to passengers, there is no Aer Lingus flight cancellation compensation owed if you're offered a replacement flight that arrives at a very similar time to the original.

Aer Lingus also won't have to pay compensation if there were extraordinary circumstances which made the cancellation necessary. For example, airlines are sometimes left no choice but to cancel flights due to an incident at the airport, or bad weather. Because the airline isn't responsible for the problem, they don't have to pay compensation. Although they must still offer passengers a replacement flight or full refund.

UK and European air passenger laws also help travellers when their flights have been delayed. If your flight landed at your final destination over 3 hours late you should check whether you are owed up to £520 per person in compensation.

It's worth checking what caused the Aer Lingus flight delays — airlines are required to pay compensation whenever they are responsible for the delay. But if the delay was caused by an unavoidable situation which was out of their control, no compensation is owed.

If, for example, the delay is due to a technical issue, or operational problem, all delayed passengers are eligible for Aer Lingus flight delay compensation. But if there's an incident at the airport, a strike by air traffic control staff, or bad weather en route there's no compensation available.

AirHelp is here to make flight delay compensation Aer Lingus claims as straightforward as possible. Our compensation check tool will confirm what you're owed. On top of that, we have one of the world's biggest databases of flight stats to back up your claim. Another thing to note, is that you can usually claim for flights from as far back as 3 years ago as well.

Table shows values in € as specified in EC 261

As you might expect with any law, there are exceptions and special circumstances that can affect how much compensation is owed in every individual case. AirHelp makes it simple to check what you’re owed with our free compensation calculator.

Aer Lingus is the flag carrier airline of Ireland and the second-largest airline in the country after Ryanair. Founded by the Irish government, it was privatised between 2006 and 2015 and it is now a wholly owned subsidiary of International Airlines Group, the parent company of British Airways and Iberia.